GAME 1: FLYERS VS. BLACKHAWKS
The curtain rises on the 2019-20 regular season as new head coach Alain Vigneault's Philadelphia Flyers take on Jeremy Colliton's Chicago Blackhawks at O2 Arena in Prague on Friday. The game is the showcase event of the 2019 NHL Global Series.
Game time on Friday is 2 p.m. ET. The game will be televised nationally on NHL Network and locally on NBCSP and NBCSCH. The radio feed is on 97.5 The Fanatic with an online simulcast at
Flyers Radio 24/7.
O2 Arena is the home of Czech Extraliga team Sparta Prague. However, the dimensions for Friday's game have been adjusted to conform to the NHL's standard 200'x85'. Conversely, the exhibition games the Flyers played in Switzerland and the Blackhawks played in Germany were played on the IIHF-sized rinks that all teams in Europe play on in their domestic leagues.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
The Flyers went 1-2-3 in the North American portion of the preseason before coming out on the losing end of a 4-3 decision to Swiss National League team Lausanne HC on Monday. Philly trailed 3-0 at the first intermission and 4-0 early in the second period. A subsequent comeback bid fell a goal short.
Until he had a poor outing in Lausanne, 21-year-old goaltender Carter Hart had been almost unbeatable both in practices and his previous preseason games. He will get the nod to start on opening night.
The Flyers are still in search of chemistry on the blueline, having shifted around all three projected pairings. There is also still experimentation going on up front, and all four forward lines have had changes in recent days.
With Nolan Patrick still considered week-to-week with chronic migraine syndrome that affected him throughout the offseason, the Flyers have held off making a decision on whether to place him on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). When the opening roster was filed with the NHL, Patrick, Andy Welinski (lower-body injury) and Tyler Pitlick (offseason wrist surgery) were all placed on the injured non-roster (INR) list.
Pitlick, who missed the entire preseason and only recently returned to practice, is now considered day-to-day. He practiced in full with the team on Thursday. Assuming he is cleared for Friday, he will dress on the fourth line. If Pitlick is unable to play, the team will be forced to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Rookie forwards Carsen Twarynski and Connor Bunnaman, considered pre-camp longshots to make the NHL club for opening night, will make their respective NHL debuts. Both players had strong camps but it was still something of a surprise that both made it all the way through into the opening night starting lineup for the Flyers.
The final two preseason roster cuts, 2018 first-round pick Joel Farabee and third-year pro defenseman Phil Myers (who still qualifies this season as an NHL rookie), are with the team and skated on Thursday but ineligible to play barring roster moves and salary cap manipulation. Veteran forward Chris Stewart remains with the team on a PTO basis, as he has been neither signed nor released.
Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said on Thursday that Farabee (like Morgan Frost and German Rubtsov) could benefit more from starting the season in the American Hockey League as an all-situations player. However, the GM has said several times over the past week that he expects significant up-and-down roster movement between the Flyers and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the early weeks of the season.
BLACKHAWKS OUTLOOK
Including their 3-1 win over DEL club Eisbären Berlin in Germany on Sunday, the Blackhawks went 2-3-1 in their six preseason games this September.
The Blackhawks lost defenseman Carl Dahlström on waivers to the Winnipeg Jets earlier this week before setting their opening night roster.
The third overall pick of the 2019 Draft, Kirby Dach, will begin the season on INR due to a concussion. When he is cleared, the Blackhawks plan to take an extended look at him on a nine-game evaluation before deciding whether to keep him in the NHL and burn the first year of his entry-level deal or exercise the slide rule and return to his junior team, the WHL's Saskatoon Blades.
Defenseman Calvin de Haan sustained a groin pull in training camp. He has been practicing with the team but is questionable for Friday's game. Defenseman Dennis Gilbert, who was officially assigned to the AHL's Rockford IceHogs on Monday but remains with Chicago on the Europe trip,practiced in de Haan's spot on Thursday. Gilbert can be activated tor Friday's game if de Haan sits out the opener.
Veteran goaltender Corey Crawford, who missed most of the last two seasons with concussion issues but is now healthy,had an uneven preseason. The team signed former New York Islanders goaltender Robin Lehner as a free agent this summer. Lehner dealt with a minor groin issue in camp but performed well in the preseason. He posted a 2.13 GAA and .930 save percentage last year for the Islanders, winning the Masterton Trophy for his inspirational honesty about the the mental health and substance abuse issues that he's dealt with in his life.
Colliton is among the NHL coaches who still believes there is a small edge to be gained in not publicly identifying his starting goaltender until the day of a game. Crawford has been projected as the opening night starter, primarily because he was the one who started the preseason games in which Chicago dressed something closer to its "A" roster.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (Subject to change)
FLYERS
28 Claude Giroux - 13 Kevin Hayes - 93 Jakub Voracek
23 Oskar Lindblom -14 Sean Couturier - 11 Travis Konecny
25 James van Riemsdyk - Scott Laughton - 81 Carsen Twarynski
12 Michael Raffl - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 18 Tyler Pitlick
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 15 Matt Niskanen
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
79 Carter Hart
[37 Brian Elliott]
PP1: Giroux, Couturier, JVR, Voracek, Gostisbehere.
PP2: Lindblom, Hayes, Konecny, Provorov, Niskanen.
Scratch: 5 Sam Morin (healthy)
Injured non-roster: 19 Nolan Patrick (migraines), 3 Andy Welinski (lower body).
BLACKHAWKS
92 Alexander Nylander - 19 Jonathan Toews - 88 Patrick Kane
12 Alex DeBrincat - 17 Dylan Strome - 65 Andrew Shaw
20 Brandon Saad - 64 David Kampf - 8 Dominik Kubalik
15 Zack Smith - 22 Ryan Carpenter - 91 Drake Caggiula
2 Duncan Keith - 56 Erik Gustafsson
6 Olli Määttä - 7 Brent Seabrook
68 Slater Koekkoek - [39 Dennis Gilbert]
50 Corey Crawford
[40 Robin Lehner]
Scratches: 11 Brendan Perlini (healthy), 44 Calvin de Haan (groin).
Injured reserve: 5 Connor Murphy (groin), 47 John Quenneville (hip).
Injured non-roster: 77 Kirby Dach (concussion).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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